DIY: desk organizer

Hi guys! I hope you’re ready for another MacGyver project! I am pretty happy with this one and think you’ll get a chuckle out of it. Would you believe this desk organizer is made from a plastic hanger and two lucite shadow box frames!? I know…I’m nuts!

I know this is said a TON out there in blog-ville, but I did have all these supplies on hand! I swear. I picked up three of these lucite shadow box frames at Michael’s a few months ago when I made my lucite tray. I think I chose 3 because that’s how many sizes they come in. So I used one to make my tray and had two left over [I can hear my first grade teacher breathe a sigh of relief at my math skills]. I then grabbed one of our plastic hangers and got busy!

I have no clue why I slapped this zebra contact paper on these trays. Please ignore.

To start grab your hanger and cut off the ends. I simply cut off a length that I thought would look nice. Once you cut one end off, flip it over onto the remaining end of your hanger and cut the exact same size off.

Place one end of the hanger against the outside of the frame and make a mark on the hanger where your holes will go. Then slowly drill a hole through the hanger on both sides.

Once your holes are made on the hanger place it inside the frame roughly centered and make a mark on the frame where the holes on the hanger are. Now SLOWLY [that is key since you don't want to crack the frame!] drill your holes in the frame. Once you drill both holes on the frame, place your hanger inside the frame, line up all the holes and screw them together.

Now repeat this on the other side of the frame. [If you're smarter than moi, you would use flat tip screws. I used what I had on hand].

Now lay your frame on its back [above picture] on a level surface. Slip your smaller frame in between the hangers to a point where you like. I spaced mine about a clenched-fist distance apart. Put a mark on both sides of your hanger where you will drill your next set of holes. Drill a hole on each side. Mark on the lucite frame where your next set of holes will be. Drill one hole on each side of the frame. Screw the hanger and frame together.

This is what your now desk organizer should look like! I know I probably rambled on in the steps above; just trying to be a good little blogger. This is a VERY easy project! I love the way this looked at this stage, but my kids got a hold of these frames with who-knows-what-permanent-substance-that-is so I had no choice but to paint it. Yes, I painted right over the contact paper too. Yup, I’m that lazy.

I got out my acrylic Montana Cans chrome gold spray paint and gave my desk organizer a quick spritz. Never one to stop at just a little spray paint, I decided I wanted to add some coral to the mix as well. I cut two thin pieces of cardboard to the size of each frame and painted each.

Once everything was dry [apx 1 hour] I slipped each piece of cardboard under the screws. Speaking of screws, I decided to camouflage them a bit by using a few silver thumb tacks.

I snipped off the sharp ends, added a tiny blob of hot glue and placed them over the screw heads. You’re done!

Pretty funny what you can make with stuff just laying around the house.

Lol. I am working on my new office space and will definitely need to head to Michaels for a few of those frames. I’d love it if you linked this up to The Makers link party going on at my blog right now

Thanks Amy for sharing your MacGyver project! I am very much happy to learn something from your project and hopefully I will be able to implement practically. Waiting to see your another MacGyver project:)

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